Cruz: President Trump would nuke Denmark

Ted Cruz ridiculed Donald Trump on Wednesday for his “Trumpertantrum,” saying his recent Twitterstorm is indicative of a candidate who doesn’t have the temperament to be commander in chief.

“I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald has tweeted, because he’s losing it,” Cruz told reporters in Goffstown, New Hampshire. “We need a commander in chief, not a Twitterer in chief. We need someone with judgment and the temperament to keep this country safe.

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“I don’t know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button,” Cruz continued. “I mean, we’re liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark. That’s not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe.”

After a second-place finish in Iowa, Trump initially congratulated Cruz for winning the caucuses. On Tuesday he patted himself on the back for bringing in “record voters” and garnering the “second highest vote in history,” despite being told he couldn’t do well there.

But by Wednesday, the billionaire businessman was no longer happy with second place, accusing the Texas senator of stealing Iowa by suggesting Ben Carson was suspending his campaign ahead of the caucuses and encouraging the retired neurosurgeon’s supporters to back Cruz.

A CNN reporter tweeted on Monday that Carson would be heading to Florida instead of campaigning in New Hampshire or South Carolina after the caucuses — which some took to mean that Carson was suspending his campaign. Cruz's campaign alerted its leaders to the tweet but didn't follow up after the reporter sent another tweet saying that Carson planned to stay in the race regardless of the Iowa results.

Cruz apologized Tuesday for not clarifying that Carson was staying in the race and dismissed Trump’s charges Wednesday. “There’s a reason Donald Trump wants to focus on it,” he said. “Because he wants a circus side show and he knows all the folks in the media will happily oblige. How about talking about the substantive issues?”

Trump has also alleged that Cruz committed fraud and has called for the Iowa Republican Party to nullify Cruz’s results and disqualify him.

“Well, listen, it is no surprise that Donald is throwing yet another temper tantrum or, if you like, yet another Trumpertantrum,” Cruz said. “It seems his reaction to everything is to throw a fit, to engage in insults, and I understand that Donald finds it very hard to lose, that he finds that very difficult for him.”

Trump had predicted a “tremendous victory” in Iowa ahead of the caucuses but fell short. He received 24 percent support to Cruz’s 28 percent. Marco Rubio narrowly trailed Trump in third with 23 percent support.

“Donald Trump guaranteed victory in Iowa, and then he lost,” Cruz said. “And he doesn’t like that. And his reaction is that he breaks down.”

Cruz added that his daughters, who are 5 and 7, behave better than Trump, who skipped the Fox News debate last week on the eve of the Iowa caucuses after clashing with the network.

“He really has problems — you know, he accused the people of Iowa of being stupid. In fact, he skipped the Iowa debate,” Cruz said. “It makes you wonder if his next step is to accuse the people of New Hampshire of being stupid, if he plans to skip the New Hampshire debate and after that if he plans to accuse the people of South Carolina of being stupid and skip the South Carolina debate.”